atever happens, no one shall ever
prevent my rejoicing in my brother's success!"

Mrs. Nimick's felicitations were always couched in the conditional,
with a side-glance at dark contingencies, and the Governor, smiling at
the familiar construction, returned cheerfully: "I don't see why any
one should want to deprive you of that privilege."

"They couldn't--they couldn't--" Mrs. Nimick heroically affirmed.

"Well, I'm in the saddle for another two years at any rate, so you had
better put in all the rejoicing you can."

"Whatever happens--whatever happens!" cried Mrs. Nimick, melting on his
bosom.

"The only thing likely to happen at present is that you will miss your
train if I let you go on saying nice things to me much longer."

Mrs. Nimick at this dried her eyes, renewed her clutch on her
draperies, and stood glancing sentimentally about the room while her
brother rang for the carriage.

"I take away a lovely picture of you," she murmured. "It's wonderful
what you've made of this hideous house."

"Ah, not I, but Ella--there she _does_ reign undisputed," he
acknowledged, following her glance about the library, which wore an air
of permanent habitation, of slowly formed intimacy with its inmates, in
marked contrast to the gaudy impersonality of the usual executive
apartment.

"Oh, she's wonderful, quite wonderful. I see she has got those imported
damask curtains she was looking at the other day at Fielding's. When I
am asked how she does it all, I always say it's beyond me!" Mrs. Nimick
murmured.

"It's an art like another," smiled the Governor. "Ella has been used to
living in tents and she has the knack of giving them a wonderful look
of permanence."

"She certainly makes the most extraordinary bargains--all the knack in
the world won't take the place of such curtains and carpets."

"Are they good? I'm glad to hear it. But all the good curtains and
carpets won't make a house comfortable to live in. There's where the
knack comes in, you see."

He recalled with a shudder the lean Congressional years--the years
before his marriage--when Mrs. Nimick had lived with him in Washington,
and the daily struggle in the House had been combined with domestic
conflicts almost equally recurrent. The offer of a foreign mission,
though disconnecting him from active politics, had the advantage of
freeing him from his sister's tutelage, and in Europe, where he
remained for two years, he had met the lady who was to become